Wordless Book The Snowman

The first wordless picture book I have chosen is The Snowman by Raymond Briggs.  This book is interesting because it does not have any words at all, it is completely wordless.  I would not call it an Easy Reader because the story is more complex than a typical board book.  This book is thirty pages long, and on many pages there are ten separate pictures.  It is a fairly long story and it is not a book for a young reader to pick up and look through like Jingle Babies, which I described in my previous blog.  This is a book that could be used by a parent guiding the child by asking to explain what messages the child thinks each picture conveys. 

The story starts with a little boy waking up, looking outside, and seeing a snowy day.  The boy gets dressed, runs out, and builds a snowman.  He gives his snowman a hat, scarf, and an orange for a nose.  The illustrations are beautiful, old fashioned and sort of British.

In the evening, after a hard day of playing, the boy goes in to his house for dinner.  He looks at the snowman from his window, then goes up to bed and falls asleep.  Perhaps the boy is dreaming, or perhaps it is real, but  the snowman has come to life.  The boy brings the snowman into his house.  The snowman does not like the fireplace.  But he does like the television and the lamp.  He does not like the stove, but really likes the refrigerator and the  ice cube tray.  The boy has so much fun with the snowman.  They play with a skateboard and balloons.

After the boy shows the snowman his home, the snowman takes the boy on a journey.  They fly through the wintry night to a place that looks like it might be Russia; or perhaps it is the North Pole.  It is really up to the reader to decide.  The snowman gets the boy home before daybreak.  The boy goes back into his house and in to bed.  When hee wakes up, he runs outside, to find his snowman has melted. 

This story is a bittersweet tale, the ending is sad, the snowman is gone. It is a beautiful message about how short is the time for childhood fantasies.  On the back cover there is a question, “Does this little boy’s snowman really come to life?”  The child and the parent can make up their own story to answer that question. This is an interesting book because, since it has no words, it does not teach a child how to read words, but it does teach a child how to follow a complex story. It also gives a young reader an opportunity to really engage in the tale.  It encourages the child to use imagination and go beyond the text.  I give this story four out of four stars.

Title: The Snowman

Author: Raymond Briggs
Publisher: Scholastic

Publication Date: 1978

ISBN: 0-590-96998-6